Editorial Cartoons by Justin Bilicki

Drawing about drawings

2009-02-20T11:21:00.001-08:00

I finally got to draw a pantsuit on a man.

2008-12-02T13:18:00.000-08:00

The ins and outs

2008-11-10T07:37:00.000-08:00

I'm back..and so is Barack

2008-11-05T08:36:00.000-08:00

It's been a long, long cartooning vacation. I'm not tan though. Be prepared for an onslaught of new toons.

The Maverick Man

2008-09-03T10:50:00.001-07:00

Hats off to Mr. Senator

2008-09-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

In the limelight

2008-08-25T08:05:00.000-07:00

The Veeps?

2008-08-22T09:40:00.000-07:00

I thought it was a good time to start drawing these people just in case I got a text message saying they'd be running the country. Selfishly, I'd say that Kaine would make the best VP choice because of his humorous characteristics. Honestly, I'm a Biden man.

City Pulse cover illustration - back to school action

2008-08-20T13:01:00.000-07:00

Below is the latest cover I illustrated for the illustrious Lansing City Pulse.

Science of Diet

2008-08-18T06:43:00.000-07:00

People will still vote for this man

2008-07-25T11:22:00.000-07:00

This clip from todays New York Times is rediculous enough to share, right?

On Thursday evening in a glittering Berlin, cheered by as many as 200,000 people, Mr. Obama delivered a tone poem to American and European ideals and shared history. In contrast, just before he spoke, Mr. McCain, was sitting in Schmidt’s Sausage Haus und Restaurant in Columbus, Ohio, having a bratwurst, and saying grumpily that he would prefer to speak to Germans when he is president, not before.

Pea brain

2008-07-21T06:46:00.000-07:00

All the news that fit in print

2008-07-18T10:42:00.001-07:00

Reaction to reaction

2008-07-16T14:29:00.000-07:00

Other news:
Tomorrow I will grace the pages of The Livonia Observer. They're doing a short little thing on me and the toons. For everyone else not living in Livonia Michigan, I apologize in a strange way.

Science Idol

2008-07-14T11:08:00.000-07:00

I'm a finalist! YAY!

I've taken yet another sabbatical but am pumping up the toon muscles and will return tomorrow the a new toon that should light your screen on fire. In the meantime, please vote for my toon! It's #6

http://ucsaction.org/campaign/science_idol_2008_vote

Straight from the mouth of the website:

Editorial Cartoons Can Be Funny. Political Interference in Science Is Not.

This spring, creative minds throughout America had the opportunity to show off their artistic and comedic talents in support of independent science by entering the third annual Scientific Integrity Editorial Cartoon Contest. Now it's your turn to decide this year's winner. Read about the artists behind the cartoons, then vote for your favorite!

Federal government science has played a large role in the policies that keep us safe and healthy and protect our environment. It has brought us to space and to the depths of the oceans. Science helps clean our air, protects us from unsafe products, and improves our quality of life. Where would we be without independent federal science?

Unfortunately, recent investigations and surveys show that political interference in science threatens the unprecedented scientific legacy that the United States has worked so hard to create. With the presidential election only four months away, we are at a critical point in our campaign to protect federal government science from manipulation, suppression, and distortion. While guarding against last minute attacks from the outgoing administration, we need to build a foundation to guide the next president.

Concerned scientists, citizens, and cartoonists, have joined together against the corruption, distortion, and censorship of federal government science!

Our mission
The next president and Congress must renew the independence of science at federal government agencies and create a thriving scientific enterprise. We must protect the ability of scientists to do their jobs. We must open up the way the federal government makes decisions to shine the light on abuses of science. We must change the culture of many federal agencies to value open scientific communication. We must protect scientists who report the distortion, manipulation, and suppression of their work.

Defending science with art
We opened the search for your creative take on the issue of political interference in science and the tasks that await our next president. Cartoonists submited one-panel or multi-panel print cartoons that address the misuse of science on a specific issue or in general, the affects of this abuse on our society, or your hope for the new administration. Check out this year's contest guidelines for further contest information. You can also find tips on incorporating editorial cartooning into a high school or middle school lesson plan and learn about the artists who drew this year's finalists.

Bush mouth

2008-06-23T15:11:00.000-07:00

Straight-ish Talk Express

2008-06-17T09:22:00.000-07:00

Political Slammer

2008-06-16T06:50:00.001-07:00

cover it up

2008-06-12T09:37:00.001-07:00

This cover is already getting rave reviews like this one:

The cartoon by Justin Bilicki on the cover of City Pulse, June 11-17, 2008, is for the truly tasteless!!

Shame on you , City Pulse!!!

Liz Wasserman

East Lansing, Michigan

Global Chaos

2008-06-12T09:33:00.000-07:00

2008-06-08T18:36:00.000-07:00

BO = Big Oil = stinky

2008-06-01T16:24:00.000-07:00

Up from the mole hole

2008-05-28T14:29:00.000-07:00

After the surgery, I took a little time off for vacation and family visits. I also had some time to do some magazine work. It was slightly refreshing to do non political illustration for awhile... it was making my pen go through the paper. In a couple days, I'll be back and I'll try and turn up the political cartoons to 11.

8 page magazine spread and cover..

Alt weekly covers

The hills are alive (with tricky math)

2008-05-14T15:19:00.000-07:00

It's been a rough couple of weeks and I've been physically unable to sit and draw. Last Friday I had my very first surgery and it wasn't pretty. I'm feeling much better now and am ready to hop back in the cartoon saddle and start making fun of some politicians.

Here's the latest..

sketch

The Hill

2008-05-06T20:09:00.000-07:00

I've been spending my time putting the pen to some different paper. Luckily, none of the work was done for black water or big oil. Some commission work and some magazine work.

Today's primary deserved a toon... heeeeere it is...

Hillary cheap shot

2008-04-29T20:29:00.000-07:00

I'm back.. I think.

2008-04-24T16:58:00.000-07:00

Bye-bye

2008-04-08T17:01:00.000-07:00

I'm off to Shanghai for awhile so no toons for a bit. I'm bringing a fancy pants sketchbook to draw unpolitical doodles with non-Tibetan humor. Onward!

When I don't give you toons, I give you television. Check out ABC this Sunday at 11:30am ET and you'll see my smiling and frightened face get interviewed. It's on Business Week TV, a segment on ABC about last minute taxes. I was stuck in an H&R block watching the tax man try and figure out how to expense pens, playdoh and beer against cartooning. Little did I know there was a secret camera capturing the bad humor exchanges. Tune in Sunday and let me know how it went...I'll be holed up in a prison on the other side of the world wishing I hadn't opened my mouth.

In other news...The Urban Dictionary offers a colorful definition of Bilicki. Hmm....
1

Bilicki

5 up, 4 down

A sense of pure evil. Often referred to as something extremely old and archaeic. This object usually has other symbolic meanings, which often lead to ancient egyptian cultures.

Used as an adjective: Bilickian

"I saw that Bilickian tablet today and nearly had a heart attack! It looked so old, ugly, and F#$ked!"

Da Clintons

2008-04-08T06:45:00.000-07:00

Yay.

2008-04-07T11:09:00.001-07:00

Not only did I finish my taxes today, I also found out that I won an Excellence Award by the New York Press Association (NYPA).

They claimed this:

Justin Bilicki New York Press
"Well drawn, humorous without being a particular slam to the party — maintains focus on candidate and the issues."

Damn it. I really wanted to slam the party. More toons to come.

no brainer

2008-04-02T15:48:00.000-07:00

No words for this one

2008-03-31T19:56:00.001-07:00

more 4,000

2008-03-27T18:44:00.001-07:00

4,000

2008-03-24T19:11:00.000-07:00

2008-03-20T11:40:00.001-07:00

panel of toons

2008-03-20T08:04:00.000-07:00

This past Tuesday my buddy and fellow cartoonist Joel Pett was in town and asked me at the last minute to speak on a panel of cartoonists at the fancy–smansy Marriott in Times Square. The elevators and the suicide railings alone made me dizzy. The rock star panel was built of Ted Rall, Joel Pett, Jeff Danziger, Matt Davies and Mikhaela Reid. What an honor this was. I was sitting on a panel with two Pulitzer Prize winners and two other cartoonists who where named “100 People Who Are Screwing Up America” by Bernard Goldberg. Shit. It was very, very inspiring.
My part in the conversation focused on the younger breed of editorial cartoonists. The second shift cartoonists. The breed who’ve realized early on that editorial cartooning rarely pays the bills.

The audience was filled with college journalism advisors full of questions about the profession. The problem with journalism at the college levels is that editorial cartooning is not taught or recognized as much as it should be. Future editors, writers and photographers graduate without an understanding of the importance of an editorial cartoonist. The consequence is an industry with safe gag style editorial cartoons or none at all.

There was good news. The college advisors were listening. Hopefully we promoted some change they can believe in (sorry, Barak… I said it first).

2008-03-19T14:26:00.001-07:00

5 years.

2008-03-17T10:10:00.000-07:00

Here's another City Pulse cover that I did for this week. Sad. Hopefully I won't have to do a 6th year cover next year.

City Pulse cover illustration

2008-03-11T08:15:00.000-07:00

Every once in awhile I'll do a cover for the Lansing City Pulse. This latest cover was a little bit challenging because it needed to convey two things... St. Patrick's Day and The East Lansing Film Festival. Below is what came out of the Bilicki Machine.

Another politician goes down (no pun intended)

2008-03-10T19:57:00.000-07:00

More torture madness

2008-03-09T13:51:00.000-07:00

Put'in someone else in power

2008-03-02T20:57:00.000-08:00

Baaaaaaaaaaaaad cartoonist

2008-02-28T15:21:00.000-08:00

If you've seen www.badcartoonist.com, you'll understand the toon.

News.

2008-02-20T10:48:00.000-08:00

As a cartoonist, I reflect on the news. I try to formulate my opinions based on sound judgment after digesting it from a reliable, trustworthy and respected news outlet. I often read cnn.com, msnbc.com and similar popular American new sites. With the exception of the local 5 o'clock news with Sally Sunshine and Vinnie Values, I'd guess that these are the same places most Americans gain their world perspective. We're constantly told that we have a "free" press and shun countries who don't live by our perfect standards either governmentally or editorially. We're the control in the ongoing experiment of the global spreading of Democracy. We are promoters of a system that values freedom of religion, political party and choice of beer. We can wear what we want and eat as much as we want whenever we want. We are free. We are also free to read and believe whatever we want. Why aren't we Americans furious that our trusted news sources value gossip as important news? We have no idea if we are actually free. We simply operate under the comfort of reading that we are.

Todays most important news stories on cnn.com

Now look at what the most important issues are in the middle east

Do we need to blur the line between news and pure entertainment in order to capture the attention of reader? Help me see the light if I'm wrong.

Now, take a look at what questions the news source asks readers. Below is a popular American news site next to a popular middle east news website

Sweep it up. Dig deeper.

2008-02-20T07:25:00.000-08:00

returning shortly

2008-02-18T09:52:00.000-08:00

I'll be returning shortly. I swear.

In the meantime, enjoy the web at http://www.petdiapers.com/acc/birdd/index.html

Mega Microsoft

2008-02-12T19:40:00.001-08:00

The cartoon... tada!

Rush (not the band)

2008-02-10T16:53:00.000-08:00

Lately I've had more ideas than time to draw. This week should be filled with toons galore.

Mac is Back

2008-02-06T18:34:00.000-08:00

Rudy is Floored-a'd

2008-01-30T05:59:00.000-08:00

Drawing the black and white cartoons take much less time than the massive color monster giants that I've been laboring over. Below are the different stages the toon goes through. The process goes like this: pencil > brush > quill > computer. The result is a magical cartoon that changes the world. Hopefully. Not really.

Click on the images to enlarge

PENCIL

BRUSH

QUILL

Mud sling'n

2008-01-29T08:08:00.000-08:00

Below are some details of the cartoon before I did any retouching. This includes the whiteout and smears that result from my sloppy hand. (click to enlarge)

cartoon + video!!! WOW

2008-01-23T15:45:00.000-08:00

A days work

2008-01-21T08:16:00.000-08:00

One of the most frequent questions that I'm asked, besides "where do your ideas come from" is "how long does it take to do a cartoon". So, I took pictures to explain the process a little better. I still have no idea where the ideas come from.

∆ The toon is first penciled before the ink is applied. Usually it takes about 20 minutes to do a pencil. This is the time where most rearranging and last minute decisions happen. On occasion I'll throw the toon out and start from scratch.

∆ The inking continues. I drew this cartoon quite large. The daily black and white cartoons are drawn at 9 x 11. This one was drawn much, much larger on cold press watercolor paper. That way I can drool, sneeze or whatever and the paper will remain absorbent.

∆ The sun begins to set.

∆ This is panic mode... The morning coffee has turned on me and it making the ol' hand shake like a cheap electric toothbrush.

∆ I let some time pass, turn on the Giants game, and let the hand slow down to a manageable caffeine shake.

∆ Inking takes up the most time. Little lines. Big lines. No lines.

∆ Bushy gets some color. I like to start off with the face to nail down the personality and character of the toon. Once that's done, it's time to color everything else.

∆ The Giants will be on soon. Damn it. Need to hurry.

∆ My favorite part about Sunday afternoon cartooning is the beautiful view from the drawing table. Hello Manhattan. Hello obstructing trees. Hello Giants fans.

∆ The sun goes down. The Patriots won. Again.

∆ View from the Justincam.

∆ Distractions are all around. Guitar, football, non-functioning bass amplifier and books.

∆ I'm messy. Since I work with a very simple pallet, I'm not too careful with mixing colors. Anything goes. There are no rules.

∆ The final touches...

∆ The sun goes down.

∆ TADA! A very large cartoon is born.
(photo by the amazing Karen Gould)

Just to clear things up...

2008-01-16T13:30:00.000-08:00

This is not me although I wish it was.

U$A

2008-01-16T07:36:00.000-08:00

Very, very bad blogger. And cartoonist.

2008-01-15T16:35:00.000-08:00

I'll be back soon. I swear.

2008-01-07T13:57:00.000-08:00

Shortly after I inked this cartoon I realized that I used non-waterproof ink. Bummer. I realized this as I applied watercolor and the ink started smearing and dripping all over the frigg'n place. It was a complete mess and had to resort to using the good 'ol cpu to patch things up. So, without further introduction, the cartoon....

Hilly campaign

2008-01-07T06:56:00.000-08:00

Hot off the pen.

2008-01-02T17:10:00.000-08:00

Flickr

2008-01-02T12:02:00.001-08:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Happy Nuke Years

2007-12-30T18:17:00.000-08:00

Late posts

2007-12-28T09:53:00.000-08:00

I've been a bit consumed and haven't had much time to post the toons to the Bilicki Blog in quite some time. So, here they are in full form....

To be continued...soon.

2007-12-27T22:47:00.000-08:00

Although I've taken some time off from posting, I'll be back soon. I'm currently busy watching the world fall apart.

Gore / Lieberman 2007

2007-12-16T19:51:00.000-08:00

CIA-holes

2007-12-13T11:59:00.000-08:00

Although this has absolutely nothing to do with the CIA cartoon, I'd like to talk about the new security provisions implied on American soil. New York City Transit (aka subways) have been under surveillance by "auxiliary" NYPD. Those police officers, although extremely overweight, ungroomed and unmodest, chose to pick me out of a group of passersby's to inspect and hassle. Did I have a bomb? No. Did I look like I had a bomb? No. What has our nation become when the very people whom are supposed to be protecting you randomly search a guy carrying a Christmas tree stand and a backpack full of crayons? Millions of people flood through the arteries of the transit system and we leave it up to Johnny-20-year-old officer to hand-pick suspicious New Yorkers to aggrivate. I hope picking me out of the crowd validated their Muslim profiling operation.

I'm a little irked.

The Big Snowy Apple

2007-12-11T06:42:00.001-08:00

(click on the thumbnails to enlarge)

This cartoon was a lot of fun to draw. In the wintertime, it snows people, presents and sneezing straphangers. It was nice to take a brief step of out of politics.

2007-12-05T16:40:00.001-08:00

cuckoo for power puffs

2007-12-04T17:30:00.000-08:00

Welcome back, Imus.

2007-12-03T15:22:00.000-08:00

Ship happens

2007-11-29T16:54:00.001-08:00

Let the dogs out.

2007-11-28T07:20:00.000-08:00

Bloomy

2007-11-26T15:36:00.000-08:00

back to black and white..for a bit.

2007-11-20T19:49:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving in New York

2007-11-19T07:55:00.000-08:00

(Click on the thumbnails below to enlarge)

War Pigs

2007-11-16T09:09:00.001-08:00

(Click on the detail below to view large version)

I've kept quiet the last couple weeks and that's because there has been something in the works. That's the good news. The bad news is that I cannot announce anything until the week after Thanksgiving. In the meantime, enjoy the turkey or cabbage or tomatoes or family.

Veteran's Day

2007-11-13T07:45:00.001-08:00

(click to enlarge details below)

Writers strike back

2007-11-11T20:44:00.000-08:00

No holiday

2007-11-08T20:40:00.001-08:00

I'd like to end any rumors that the writers strike is the reason that I'm not producing many cartoons this week. In the meantime, check this out.

New newsworthy news

2007-11-06T07:09:00.000-08:00

This year, I think, marks my 10 year anniversary as an editorial cartoonist. I have to be honest… I sucked baaaaaad 10 years ago. Many aspiring cartoonist will frequently ask, “how did you get started drawing editorial cartoons?” The answer I should have given them was, “by sucking at it really, really badly for a couple years.” I started out at Michigan State’s State News. At the time it was a 40,000+ daily newspaper which was widely read by both the constantly drunk underachievers and the college elite. It was the perfect place to learn and to experience the reach of a large-ish daily newspaper in a campus filled with your constituents.

To mildly demonstrate what I'm taking about, check out the cartoon below from the year 2000. It was also included in the winning Locher Award Portfolio. The cartoons from 97 -99 were almost unrecognizable as cartoons.

Lately I haven't been cranking the desired "Bilicki 5-a-week" and I want to save face by stating that's not because of laziness. Actually, it’s the complete opposite. These new color cartoons take about 3 times as long to create. They're monsters. The usual black and white toon was done at 9”x12” and these are done at a whopping 12’x16”in full “analog” watercolor. I’m changing from quantity over quality to quality over quantity even though they’re less newsworthy because the cartoon factory is efficaciously effective.

BOOK NEWS!

MORE BUSH CARTOONS!
Rob Rogers did a fantastic job curating the Bush Leaguers Exhibition this past summer. Congrats Rob... you went overboard while remaining on deck as the captain. Clap. Clap. Clap.

This is what the AAEC site has to say...

"This catalog is a rare collection of 98 current political cartoons about George W. Bush and his most trusted advisors. It contains the complete exhibit, "Bush Leaguers: Cartoonists Take On The White House", which was on display at the American University Museum in Washington, D.C. in honor of the AAEC's 50th anniversary. Over 80 cartoonists from newspapers across the country, including several Pulitzer Prize winners, have contributed their best cartoons depicting George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, and more."

(Click on the image to purchase)

In other book news, it’s time to stuff our stockings full of more cartoons. For the past four years or so Daryl Cagle has hand-picked what he things are the years best toons. I'm glad he picked some of mine.

This is what Amazon said about it:
"All of the top political cartoonists in the world contributed to this collection of the best cartoons of 2007, from Daryl Cagle's Professional Cartoonists Index website, the most popular cartoon site on the web (www.cagle.com). More than eight hundred cartoons cover the major topics of the year, from lovesick diaper astronauts to the surge in Iraq. We have cartoons on Barry Bonds, Michael Vick, Paris Hilton in jail, Senator Larry Craig in the bathroom, the presidential candidates, poison Chinese toys and much, much more! News junkies and cartoon fans won't want to miss this great cartoon history of the year 2007!"

This is what I say about it: "You clicky, you buy!"

(Click on the image to purchase)

Driving Spitzer crazy

2007-11-05T11:38:00.000-08:00

Details below (click to view larger image)

Rudy's intelligent design

2007-10-29T08:26:00.000-07:00

Details

All burnt up

2007-10-25T17:06:00.000-07:00

2007-10-24T10:00:00.000-07:00

Teasing tomorrow's cartoon

2007-10-23T07:39:00.000-07:00

Here's a little taste of tomorrow's cartoon. Yes, it's about that wacky Imus guy.

Another local cartoon to confuse everyone

2007-10-22T15:27:00.001-07:00

tada

Hit me with your cheap shot

2007-10-17T16:26:00.001-07:00

Local cartoon of the week

2007-10-16T14:08:00.000-07:00

Everybody loves ice cream

2007-10-15T07:20:00.000-07:00

Details
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I've been changing things up a little lately. Now that I'm allowed color on the page, the brushes, crayons, whiteout and coffee are all back on the table.

Gore's praise

2007-10-14T16:10:00.000-07:00

The genius behind Nate Beeler

2007-10-12T13:03:00.000-07:00

I'm having a lot of fun putting these videos together. As you can see, I've been doing more editing and less drawing...that should change soon. I hope.

Kal speaks

2007-10-12T09:31:00.000-07:00

Check out more details and get your preparations together for next years event at www.cartoonsandcocktails.com

Cartoons and Cocktails 2007

2007-10-11T09:29:00.000-07:00

This years Cartoons and Cocktails event was a blast. Judy Hines, once again, put on a great show and raised a good amount of money for high school journalists. I didn’t leave the event empty handed...I won a Beetle Bailiy and a Corax original. WOOOOT! WOOOT!

More videos to come. For now, check out Kal and I "trying" to work the crowd.

Back on the horse...

2007-10-10T19:19:00.000-07:00

I've taken a little, tiny, small and miniture sized break from bang'n in the blog. Cartoons and Cocktails wore me out and there's a lot of video footage to edit together. Kal of the Economist, and Matt Wuerker of Politico have nice segments. Nate Beeler of the Washington Examiner has a very unique interview with the person...ahem....body part responsible for creating the cartoons known to many as "Beeler's".

In other news, I'm back at The New York Press. It's real as an eel. It was nice to across the street and pick up the copy and see the toon printed at a generous size. About 3 or 4 years ago this time I was printed 2.5 inches wide. Embarassing.

Mucky Water

2007-10-09T19:28:00.000-07:00

Where the @#$% has the truth gone? Anybody seen it?

2007-10-07T09:39:00.000-07:00

Going once...

2007-10-05T08:05:00.000-07:00

I apologize for a lack of toons recently. I was in D.C. participating in the annual Cartoons and Cocktails auction. Video to come soon.

Oooooops, the baby.

2007-10-01T20:48:00.001-07:00

Global WARming

2007-09-30T17:25:00.000-07:00

In reaction to Bush's remarks about The United States role in battling climate change, Sigmar Gabriel was spot on when he said, "This here was a great step for the Americans and a small step for mankind. In substance, we are still far apart."

We, the United States, are far, far off from cleaning up the mess we helped start. The rapid industrialization of our country left environmentally harmful toxins in our air, in our soil and in our water. Now it is clear that the effects of our rampage are hamful and threaten the globe and the leader of our country says he'll stop it as long as it doesn't hinder the economic prosperity of the businesses which are resposible for the pollution. Basically, if the companies can't make money from cutting back emissions, then cutting back emmissions is not fiscally wise and therefore a bad move. Sounds like the best interest of the world comes second to the best interest of the dollar. Too bad the dollar isn't worth shit anymore.

black_water

2007-09-27T17:51:00.000-07:00

Ahmadinejad's stance

2007-09-25T17:45:00.000-07:00